While there's no wrong way to play Dungeons & Dragons, players new to the hobby have a tendency to fall into clichés when making their characters that, if handled poorly, can have an adverse effect on the game. Like other tabletop games, DnD is incredibly open-ended, allowing for effectively infinite unique characters. Despite this, the same few stereotypes keep popping up among players, limiting the possibilities of what the game could be.
The source of these clichés isn't always clear, though they're easily perpetuated through various playgroups and online communities. While they certainly won't ruin a game on their own, players building their first DnD character should be conscious of why they're making particular choices. Sticking to a common trope for its own sake is rarely a good call.
D&D Characters Don't Need Tragic Backstories
There's an old adage about DnD character backstories - "happy people don't become adventurers." While it's snappy, oft-repeated, and does hold a kernel of truth, this statement is largely untrue. The motives that drive adventurers are as varied as the adventurers themselves, and certainly don't need to be the result of trauma.
Tragic backstories certainly can provide a strong reason to adventure (avenging a lost loved one is a popular choice of motive for good reason). However, characters can take up the adventuring life for all kinds of less-than-tragic reasons. Maybe they're the most recent in a long line of adventurers that stretches back generations, or a renowned hunter who's seeking to take on the most powerful monsters DnD can offer. Effectively, a bit of imagination can provide some incredibly compelling backstories.
There are also a handful of minor complications that arise from a character's tragic past. If a character ends up with no friends and no family, it becomes notably harder for the DM to introduce friendly NPCs that said character might connect to. While this certainly isn't mandatory, doing so can be an easy source of engagement for that character's player. Additionally, a truly tragic backstory might not match the tone of the rest of the game. Players should, of course, communicate with the rest of their table to ensure their choices fit with what everybody else is doing.
D&D Mistakes - The Adventure Should Be The Spotlight
Another backstory-related mistake DnD players new to the hobby might run into is, surprisingly, over-developing their character's history. While a character with zero backstory can be dull and lacking motivation, too much backstory creates a whole other set of issues. As intriguing as a character's past may be, it will never take center stage over the events in the present. The adventure should be the most interesting part of a character's life - that's a big part of what makes it an adventure.
This isn't to say a character's backstory must be boring, just that it needs to fit with their present state. A level one Fighter probably hasn't slain a dragon; conversely, if players are starting at higher levels, their adventurers are likely a fair bit more seasoned. It makes no sense for a level eight Paladin to have spent her past keeping a cloister tidy.
Lone Wolf D&D Players Can Cause Larger Party Issues
Whether they're an edgy rogue, a reclusive introvert, or a DnD party's only evil character, plenty of Dungeons & Dragons characters have reasons to want some time alone. Ideally, a good DM will facilitate some of this, providing moments for each character to shine apart from the main group. However, some players may take this too far, creating characters that are really loners who don't actually want to stick with the party.
DnD is, fundamentally, a team-based game - cooperation is often the key to success, and nobody is playing the single main character. Having a character constantly running off on their own breaks this paradigm, disproportionately shining the spotlight on just one player. At best, this limits opportunities for collaborative storytelling. At worst, it forces players to wait around waiting for their turn to play. As fun as loners can be, players should make characters that are open to cooperation and spending time with the rest of the party.
D&D Bards Are Overly Stereotyped
Among DnD's various classes, the Bard is perhaps subject to the most unfounded jokes. Bard stereotypes abound - plenty of players have stories of overly-flirtatious bards attempting to seduce villains, and the class has a (frankly undeserved) reputation among the DnD community. The common perception of Bards as promiscuous, dramatic, and suave can be a huge trap for new players, who might think this is the only way the class can be played.
DnD content creator and cosplayer Ginny Di tackles this issue in an excellent video explaining and subverting the commonly overplayed traits of Bards. She breaks the class, and the Charisma ability score it relies on, down to essentials, and expands upon alternate interpretations of a Bard's abilities. While players certainly can play a stereotypical Bard, doing so greatly limits what the class is capable of and the stories that Dungeons & Dragons is able to tell.
New D&D Players Shouldn't Play A Chaotic Stupid Character
DnD's alignment system primarily plays a narrative role in 5th Edition - it's a holdover from an older time when it factored into gameplay more often. It's still a useful tool for judging how a character would act in a given situation, however, so there's no surprise that alignment is still a common point of discussion in DnD.
Chaotic Stupid is, of course, not a real alignment, but instead a label applied to a subset of poorly thought-out behaviors that some players may exhibit. While Chaotic Dungeons & Dragons characters are likely to break from traditional ways of thinking and acting, ignore rules they disagree with, or behave impulsively, a Chaotic Stupid character acts without any consideration of motive. Their actions may involve starting random fights, constantly trying to steal, and undertaking dangerous stunts regardless of the consequences.
Playing like this isn't committing to a character's alignment; while these actions may seem Evil, DnD alignments usually make sense within the game's fiction. A Chaotic Stupid character is almost always the result of a player not taking the game as seriously as the rest of their table. That's a weird point - the game is meant to be fun, and certainly doesn't need to be full of grim, stoic, and emotionless heroes - a player who's less committed to a game of Dungeons & Dragons can seriously detail everybody else's enjoyment.
Source: Ginny Di/YouTube
